next story

Beauty & Health: Can We Ever Learn to Love Pale, Untanned Skin?

Hi my dears! I was being lazy the other night and I caught a few reruns of Friends and Sex and the City, and had the strangest epiphany...

**** Most of the characters on both shows (probably reruns from the late 1990's or early 2000's, not exactly sure of the date) looked really pale. Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox looked like they were completely dusted in white pressed powder, and Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattral were almost ghostly.

That was then, and this is now: When everyone is suddenly sporting a perma-tan. You never see Jennifer Aniston without a golden "glowing" look or SPJ without bronzer (note: I have much love for both women, just saying).

As I watched the shows, I started thinking about the pervasive societal pressure to be tan, and how tanning seems to go through cycles of popularity. And, as much as we know about the dangers of tanning and skin cancer (if you didn't see my post yesterday about the new dangers of tanning, click here), we're clearly in a must-be-tan moment.

But let's set tanning beds and chaise lounges aside for the moment: Even people who have sworn off the sun and tanning salons (me!) spend hundreds of dollars on sunless tanning creams and potions and invest so much time and energy on the quest to not be pale. So many people have come to believe that a golden tan appearance makes you look "healthy." Really? How did we get to this place, and how can we get back to normal?

I don't know if I'm ready to breakup with my self-tanner just yet (P.S. here's the ultimate self-tanner guide), but I am wondering whether we can ever get to a place where we're really 100 percent cool with pale, natural, untouched skin. No tanning. No creams. No bronzer. Just your skin, au natural.

What do you think? Have you learned to love your pale skin, or are you still battling it out with the tanning bed and self tanner?